Thursday, November 29, 2012

Loving Hut is offering a green and healthy solution to reduce Man’s impact

Changing our eating habits could make a big difference to climate change, according to a vegan organisation.

Loving Hut is a vegan organisation that uses products such as soy protein to replace meat. Its founders believe that a simple way to reduce climate change is to change your diet.

The idea began at COP15/CMP5 in Copenhagen, when a group of vegans got together to promote their views. Two years ago Loving Hut was born and the vegan restaurant chain now has more than 200 outlets in more than 30 countries.

Brenda Wang, the executive director of Loving Hut USA, said that attitudes towards vegan food were changing. She said: “If you think that in two years we have been able to open more than 200 restaurants in more than 30 countries, then I think the world is ready. Every COP we go to the first question people ask is, ‘What does food have to do with climate change?’ and then when we talk to them about it, the second question they ask is ‘Why did it take so long for this idea to get here?’ ”

At 5.30pm on Wednesday Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop, the executive director of the World Preservation Foundation, will give a talk at Qatar Sustainability Expo, at Doha Exhibition Centre, about how veganism can help tackle climate change.

He said there are two parts to the solution. The first is that reducing short-lived climate pollutants - such as methane, black carbon and tropospheric ozone, which are caused by grassland fires and livestock - can slow global warming. The second, long-term fix, is to stop eating meat and return the world’s grazing pastures to forests, savannah and native grasslands.

He said: “People are desperate for solutions. It is a radical, but a natural solution. A lot of people are becoming vegans but most people are very resistant to this idea. However the tide is turning and I believe that within a decade we will see desperate measures being looked at. I believe that humans are slow but they are not stupid, so they will look at this even though it seems a way out idea now. It is safe, it is effective, it is low cost. It means changing what we eat but if changing what we eat can save the world we will do it.”

Friday, November 16, 2012

This is no ordinary Meat Free analogue meat alternative. This is Twitter - rific vegan meat. You really know something is about to change when the big boys and their investment houses get involved.

At last seems we have hit critical mass, the hundreth monkey syndrome - vegan beyond meat that actually tastes like meat.

My one reservation about Beyond Meat is that they didn't add some vitamin B12. Then I'm sure they could have legally claimed Beyond Meat is better than meat. It seems an obvious thing to miss, but possibly easily rectified.

With the big muscle of the social media champions Twitter behind it, the British retail industry has a big shake up on their shelves ahead of them. Sainsbury have a few Linda Mccartney like sausages, Asda have some vegan chicken pieces, Tesco have some new Free From dairy products but not much for vegans. Generally UK supermarkets are behind the US on the vegan front where A listers such as Bill Clinton, Oprah and blockbuster film producer James Cameron are all getting their teeth into good vegan food.

This side of the Atlantic the supermarket shelves are dominated mainly by Quorn, which contains egg, is dry and bland, expensive, sometimes also has dairy in it, is lower in protein and lacks essential fats.

Cauldron, a sister company often gets a look in but despite being tofu based still resorts to egg to hold it together.

Linda McCartney once the nation's favourite have been gradually squeezed out by Quorn but only have themselves to blame as they too unecessarily resort to cheese, egg and dairy in most products.They are still shaking off the scandal of the hydrogenated fat that British TV backstabbed them with.

Beyond Meat is not just egg and dairy free it's even wheat and gluten free featuring an inspired mix of pea and soy protein with amaranth ( a legendary Mexican pseudo grain) and carrots!

If it tastes as good as just about everyone is saying it does then it's not just Quorn, Cauldron, and Linda McCartney foods that should be quaking in their has been vegetarian Quakers' boots - it's the bulk of the British Meat Industry

They'll probably still be a market for free range organic specialist meats but cheap factory farmed meat will surely be obsolete, what would be the point? It's a total no brainer. Why would you risk your health and survival of the planet over such a denatured, bacteria laced product ?

Why would you eat meat and risk heart disease, diabetes, altzhiemers, certain cancers and a host of other diseases in addition to helping to cause environmental catastrophe when you can tuck into something as allegedly delicious as Beyond Meat? It's beyond me !

Saturday, November 10, 2012

This bug could be Viva! and PeTA's celebrity of the year in 2013 after it's been discovered that one bite from the insect can make you allergic to meat! The TicK could rival PeTA's famous vegetarian naked lady protests and prove better at converting young teens to vegetarianism than millions of pounds worth of Vegan Society Videos and pamphlets.

The rumours that The World Health Organisation are cotemplating recruiting the bug to help reduce rates of obesity, heart disease and diabetes are so far unconfirmed ;-)

This vegan Dinosaur with up teen horns is not to be messed with. A seriously hardcore vegetarian that makes a rhinoceros look like a wet pussy cat.

His pure naked strength proves you don't have to eat hairy meat to have big muscles and be a powerful beast.

This is one big mother who is not going to lay down and say eat me when a T Rex turns up, who's sure to think that's too big a mouthful to get my teeth around.

"Xenoceratops provides new information on the early evolution of ceratopsids, the group of large-bodied horned dinosaurs that includes Triceratops," said Dr. David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto. "The early fossil record of ceratopsids remains scant, and this discovery highlights just how much more there is to learn about the origin of this diverse group."

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

You'd think that with with a environmentally loaded gun pointing squarely at the head of the beef Industry they would be a bit more careful about hitting the headlines with stereotypical rhetoric.But no.

Goodland and Anhang reported last year (2011. Livestock and greenhouse gas emissions: The importance of getting the numbers right, by Herrero et al. Animal. Feed Science and Technolog y166–167, 779–782 (doi: 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2011.12.028). For the World Bank, and state the lifecycle and supply chain of livestock products account for at least 51% of annual worldwide reen house gas emissions.

This is more than is attributable to all the world's transport. A number of researchers are reaching similar conclusions, if we continue to eat meat in the quantities we are the consequences will be catastrophic.

Director's Cut. Beef is bad for health and the environment.

On one hand you have Oscar-winning Director of Titantic, Avatar and Terminator,James Cameron saying you can't be a true environmentalist if you eat meat.

On the other hand you have the Scottish Beef Industry seemingly clueless on their Public Relations faux pas apparently complaining to the Forestry Commission about planting trees on land that could be used for beef farming.

The Scottish Beef Industry is also asking politicians for an extra 10% subsidy to try to encourage more farmers to raise cattle.

Because the food chain and the profits of food production is now largely controlled by investment banking stock brokers, wholesalers and retailers, farmers the worldover are being squeezed out of the big boys profit margins. Dairy farmers and Beef Farmers in particular are getting a taste of what it's like to be a farmer in the developing world with little or no say in how their product is produced or a fair share of the profits.

Can Scottish farmers survive the middlemen?

Perhaps it's time Fair Trade organisations looked closer to home and helped Scottish farmers to set up co-ops to regain control over their income and decide the most sustainable and profitable use of their farmland that doesn't need big government subsidies to help it break even.

Monday, October 08, 2012

The dates have been announced for the World's biggest veggie events in 2013 - VegfestUK Brighton (March 16th & 17th 2013) and VegfestUK Bristol (May 24th 25th & 26th 2013) - and the websites are now live for bookings.

And there's an early bird special offer for stall bookings too - 10% off if you book and pay before November 30th 2012

The 2012 shows saw a combined total of over 30,000 visitors to these two events, and both the shows continue to expand for 2013.

As well as the usual mix of 125 stalls, specialist caterers, talks on nutrition, health, campaigns and lifestyle, cookery demos, headline acts, celebrity appearances live music and performance, highlights and new additions include

Brighton

·Speed dating session and a Wedding·Bodybuilders strength competition·Comedy Hour with name comedians·Family Day Sunday with Kids Cookery Classes·Free Nutritional consultancy clinic for families·Baby change/breastfeed space·Performance area for live music·Cinema with 'Healthy Lifestyle' films including Simply Raw, Vegucated etc

Admission to Brighton is free to the public, at Bristol it's a £2 charge before 5pm and £5 after 5pm for the headline acts. Brighton is indoors at The Hove Centre and has a footfall of 5,000 in 2012, expected to rise to 6,000 in 2013, and Bristol is an outdoor show with an attendance in 2012 of 25,000 over 3 days. Expected attendance for 2013 is around 15,000 as it has now become a pay event (2012 admission was free).

Both shows offer fantastic exhibiting opportunities as well as sponsorship packages, and our comprehensivemarketing options (in the event programme, on the website and in the ebulletin) target tens of thousands of health conscious individuals, most of whom are already vegetarian or vegan, or actively seeking to reduce their meat and dairy intake and are looking for more plant based options.

If you would like to exhibit, sponsor, advertise or place your products at the show, please contact our office and we will be happy to provide you with further information. Meanwhile you can access more information about the show here

Indian Vegetarians are revolting- against the International Vegetarian Union IVU and it's insistence that eggs are vegetarian.

The row is no yolk and it has been boiling for some time. Basically the Indian Vegetarians feel the idealogy of vegetarianism has been poached and whisked up into a hard boiled concept that's left egg on the faces of UK based IVU. In an eggshell the Indian vegetarians feel their devine inspired definition of a plant based diet is a supreme one, not a half baked omelette of scrambled philosophical thoughts.

So just who are the rightful Guardians of the definition of vegetarian? "Who cares" say the vegans, until you get all animal products out of the diet it's not truly healthier, it's not truly sustainable and it's not truly avoiding the unnecessary slavery and torture of animals.

Meanwhile more and more people tread the Plantarian pathway of health and sustainability than ever before irresepective of the pedantic semantics of the self appointed vegetarian librarians. The Pythagorean , Hindhu , Jain and Buddhist principles that spawned the worldwide veganism of presidents and Hollywood stars are now so far out of Pandora's box that they have a self perpetuating life of their own.

Veganism has finally reached critical mass, look out cruel world for the meek are inheriting your debt.(and frankly they are a bit indignant)

Early one morning Oregon Pig farmer, Terry Garner, who lived near the rural town of Riverton in southern Oregon, went to feed his 700-pound hogs. He was never seen alive again.

They are still not sure how the farmer was eaten by his own animals, whether he had a heart attack or whether the hungry pigs attacked him or whether there was some element of foul play at work (attacked by battery farmed hens?)

Many years ago I was staying on my friend's farm in Switzerland and early one morning my friend thought it would be funny to get me to feed the hogs. basically there's only two reasons why people go into the Hog Shed - to feed them or to fetch them to service the sows. You go in there, he's either gonna try to eat you or impregnate you or both in no particular order. I was faced with a Hog suddenly at full stretch on his chain towering above me drooling over me with an almost psycopathic look in his eye, making this most terrifying noise that made Freddy Krueger sound like a Telly Tubbie. I was petrified. I can easily imagine what happened to Terry Garner.

Fox reports "When he wasn't seen for several hours, a family member went to look for him, and found Garner's dentures on the ground in front of the hog enclosure, which housed several of the animals.While searching the hog enclosure, the family member found Garner's body in several pieces, with a majority of it consumed by the hogs, the district attorney said."

Thursday, September 20, 2012

So I apologise, Halloween is not even lurking in the bushes yet. But because magazines have such a long lead time this Christmas / Thanksgiving extravaganza has already been done and dusted. Stash it in the freezer for a while?

So yes, it's true, the Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking ( and living) vegan recipe book is being reprinted and will be out on World Vegan Day, One World Day

This is the same as the Complete Book of Vegan Cooking vegan cook book except that it's a paperback and not a hardback and thus a few quid cheaper.

One of the things people like about it , apart from the 150 recipes, are the hundreds of photos (750)

There is also a comprehensive introduction to going vegan and the history of veganism. Leading UK nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston provides an almost encylopedic section on health and the vegan diet including a section on pregnancy and vegan diets. It's much more than just a vegan cookbook.

You know somethings going on when the head of Microsoft ( and some say the New World Order) start to complement Vegans and their lifestyle

Bill Gates was caught on camera, presumably at a dinner to promote the Gates Foundation. He was talking about big US corporations finally working out that beef, chicken, egg and cheese alternatives made with plant protein are "both cheaper, probably more healthy, less cruelty involved, less green house gas emissions. It is quite a phenomenal thing.” Gates said

Saturday, March 17, 2012

VegfestUK Brighton March 17th - 18th - It's a Sell Out
All 125 stalls have sold out for VegfestUK Brighton on March 17th & 18th at The Hove Centre, making the event the second biggest 100% veggie festival, fair, exhibition event in Europe in 2012 for those interested in finding out more about health, sustainability, more ethical Vegetarian and Vegan lifestyles. Bring a friend.

With admission free to the public, crowds of up to 6,000 are anticipated over the two days, ready to indulge in an enormous selection of food and produce - all of it 100% plant based.

The event programme has been published and is available to download from the website at http://brighton.vegfest.co.uk/programe-of-events, and includes details of the stallholders, all the special offers available, the cookery demos, talks, product presentations, and the complete line-up of entertainment over the weekend, including live music, films and performance.

As usual at VegfestUK it is the food that is the star of the show, with 8 specialist caterers serving up a wonderful array of global cuisine, plus umpteen food producers exhibiting, many with new products and free samples and tasters, proving once again just how amazing veggie food can be.
There's also some fun competitions at the event with the Great Veggie Burger and Sausage Competition catching the eye - 14 different veggie sausages and burgers to try, with the public deciding the winner. And there's also a veggie version of Ready Steady Chef taking place at 5pm both days with local chefs competing against each other top produce the best plant based meal inside 30 minutes in front of a live audience.

Admission is free to the public and the event opens from 11am - 6pm both days Saturday and Sunday March 17th 18th. The event is held at The Hove Centre Norton Road Hove BN3 4AH
More information about this exciting event can be found on the event website www.brighton.vegfest.co.uk

Friday, March 02, 2012

As we are only a month away from April Fools Day I thought I better tell you about this quick lest you think I'm pulling your leg and tricking you again but like yah! This time it's really real the vegan fried egg called vegg is a eggy eggless veggiefied plantastic reality. Honest. I really am sorry about the Sunny side up thing, i really did think it was for the best as it would inspire Redwood Wholefoods to hurry up and get it together. In fact the makers of the Vegg do actually credit our April Fool as their inspiration - so actually ? You have us to thank. Now you can all get genuinely excited. I'm tempted to do a double bluff and do an April Fools day press release about the Vegg and the Vegan Fried Egg on the 31st March - would that be cool or cruel? Votes on a postcard to @plantarian ;-)